Rabbitbrush on Yupo - Again

Rabbitbrush on Yupo - Again
Originally uploaded by BYarborough

Here's my second attempt at my idea for a collage style painting on Yupo. Wow - this one was a challenge! I decided to use Daniel Smith paints and found out real fast that when I put the masking tape on after letting the background dry (to get my square), it pulled quite a lot of the paint off. I tried scotch tape and it pulled off even more paint. I tried applying the masking tape and only pressing down a very slim edge of the paint, and it STILL pulled off the paint! So after washing this sheet of Yupo in the sink with soapy water THREE times, I free-handed with a brush each of the squares. This method did not give me a crisp line. Lesson learned: do not use DS paints for this technique!!
When Kevin Davidson critiqued my last painting, he pointed out two critical points. One is that I needed three squares, not two. I KNEW this, using odd numbers rather than even, just didn't think of it at the time. The second point was to completely (with Qtips) clean the background off in the areas where I was going to paint the subject so I would get the transparency that IS watercolor. Yupo is bright white, so that was a critical point, especially with the yellows. I'm not giving up on this technique, I just am not using DS paints for it again!!

Rubber Rabbitbrush on Yupo

Rubber Rabbitbrush on Yupo
Originally uploaded by BYarborough

I had an idea to do watercolor on Yupo in a collage style. After talking about this with Kevin Davidson, he suggested using masking tape. It was a terrific technique and one I'll do again. I'm not REAL happy with this because it's not like I had envisioned. But I WILL try again!!
I painted the bg green/yellow and let it dry completely, I masked off the the first square, wiped it clean with a sponge and then painted the bushes and sand. After that was dry, I masked and cleaned off the square for the close-up of the blossom. One major thing I should've done is to paint each of the two squares bg colors on BEFORE I removed the tape (it was a bit hard to keep the lines straight). I didn't want to leave the tape on too long because I was concerned it would remove some paint that I didn't want removed. I think a few more minutes would've been fine.
I'm very allergic to these bushes and they bloom in Sept - Oct where I live! They make the desert colorful, but NAIL my sinuses and my voice! They sometimes give me laryngitis!

Desert Sunset

Desert Sunset
Originally uploaded by BYarborough

This was done in a workshop taught by Claudette Garcia at the Pasadena Art Expo. This is the landscape as it was done in the workshop and I still need to add a bit of orange to the white light coming through the tree trunks and also add some very small bare branchlets to the tree. A terrific workshop!! This is 16 x 20 stretched canvas using Holbein Duos (Watersoluble Oils).

Fall Creek - WMO on Yupo

Fall Creek - WMO on Yupo
Originally uploaded by BYarborough

Another Fall painting using the water miscible oils on Yupo. I tried doing the "water" on this with the George James' Yupo watercolor technique of smoothing with a sponge roller. It took several tries and I'm still not 100% happy with it. Watering down the oils works very similar to watercolor, so I'm eager to try some other watercolor techniques with it, I just don't want to get too overboard or I might as well work with watercolors on the Yupo! A fun painting and probably the last I'll have time to work on for a couple of weeks.

Yea, it's FALL! - WMO on Yupo

Yea, it's FALL! - WMO on Yupo
Originally uploaded by BYarborough

Every Spring I think it's my favorite time of year, and then every Fall I think the same thing. I guess I like "seasons" and am so thankful I live where we have them. How boring it must be to live where there is no temperature or scenery changes. This is water miscible oils (I'm still using the Van Gogh H2Oils and LOVE them!) and it is painted on 9 x 12 sheet of Yupo. The reference photo is from WetCanvas - they have over 800 Fall Landscape photos in their library!
I fell off on my goal to art journalize every other day in September, but I'm not going to beat myself up for failing. I've decided I'm just not the type to consistently do art in a journal. Although, having said that, I'll be one of the first to sign up when Cathy (Kate) Johnson offers her online class on art journaling!! I've been working on this Fall scene for several days as some steps required the previous layers had dried.

Butterfly in my journal

Butterfly in my journal
Originally uploaded by BYarborough

This is not really post-worthy, but I'm trying to get back on track of journaling every odd day in September. One of the ideas I had for journaling this month was to experiment with techniques and medias. This butterfly is done in my 7 x 9 Raffine ArtSketch book. I painted the entire sheet with a gradated wash of a cool green. Then I started with the background and did some negative painting -- a technique I'd really like to get better at. It's really hard for me to wrap my brain around the concept!! Then I combined watercolor and watercolor pencils on the butterfly. I used Faber-Castell's Albrecht Durer pencils. The white on the butterfly is white acrylic.

Desert Sunset 1

Desert Sunset 1
Originally uploaded by BYarborough

One of my "Aussie" friends, Wendy Shortland, and I have challenged each other to work in journals this month. We are planning on doing a journal page on every odd numbered day in Sept. This is my 9-1-09 work. I've decided to use a Lama Li book that is 7 x 9. For quick watercolors, I LOVE Lama Li paper -- pure 100% cotton rag, handmade, terrific rough texture and no sizing. It doesn't handle masking or very much scrubbing, so you get it down and leave it! I used American Journey paints on this one. It took about 10 min to get this one done. I was going for QUICK - LOL!!

Desert Sunset

Desert Sunset
Originally uploaded by BYarborough

WM Oils on Yupo. Inspiration photo from my friend, Dani John.

Beach Bike - WM Oils on Yupo

Beach Bike - WM Oils on Yupo
Originally uploaded by BYarborough

Water miscible oils on Yupo. One of the hardest steps for me in using oils is that I lose my sketch lines and have a hard time finding them and redrawing with paint! I'm SO used to drawing and the graphite staying on the paper while I watercolor. Drawing this bike was most DIFFICULT for me and I didn't get it right, but figured I'd post it anyway. I DO like the way my pot and plant came out :)

AV Annie Oakleys

AV Annie Oakleys
Originally uploaded by BYarborough

This is a commission piece done for a local women's shooting group. Done in watercolor on Acquarello Artistico paper with WN paints. This painting depicts subjects common to the Antelope Valley (AV) which are it's beautiful sunsets, a large desert valley surrounded by mountains, joshua trees, poppies and the California quail. The group will be formatting this for a logo -- possible shape suggestion is a hexagon.

Landscape 2 - Yupo

Landscape 2 - Yupo
Originally uploaded by BYarborough

Watersoluble oils on Yupo. (The light line through this is not on the painting, it is reflected light from the photo I took.) This ref photo is probably too complex for someone who has not painted in oils (that would be ME) -- but I did enjoy the challenge. I'm still finding that I really like watersoluble oils on Yupo!!

Landscape 2 - Canvas

Landscape 2 - Canvas
Originally uploaded by BYarborough

My second landscape for the oil class. Reference photo is from WetCanvas and is one of their August Challenges in their new forum, Water Solube Oils.

Landscape-Yupo

Landscape-Yupo
Originally uploaded by BYarborough

Yupo version of lesson 4 from Nel's Oil Painting Class. It was difficult to get the sky in and to soften the cloud edges on Yupo. I have some ideas to try to improve this on Yupo the next time around. Ain't it fun experimenting and learning?! Roadway is too purple and since I was painting this side-by-side with the canvas version, that's the biggest boo boo on both of these landscapes.

Landscape-Canvas

Landscape-Canvas
Originally uploaded by BYarborough

Nel's Oil Painting Class assignment for lesson 4. It's quite obvious that I got the road too purple : )
Otherwise. . . this was a fun assignment.

Virtual Paintout-Florence, Italy
Originally uploaded by BYarborough

This painting was coming along quite well until I added the shadow! The shadow is from buildings that are across the street from this one. Just goes to show that I really MUST evaluate a photo reference more thoroughly before painting!! The photo I printed from the google map is shown on the far right. Virtual Paintout Blog sets up monthly challenges where a city is listed, along with the google map (street view), and participants can choose any scene from that city. You can print the scene right there on google maps. The address for this one is 4 via dei Banchi in Firenze, Tuscany, Italy. Check out the blog here
The Virtual Paintout

Brick Cottage

Brick Cottage
Originally uploaded by BYarborough

I'm still toying with the brick house with ivy. This is done on Lama Li using WN paints. I used a gray crayon again for the random brick mortar and the leaded window. I REALLY like the effect it gives. As I was working on this it occurred to me that I'm working faster, but not really any looser. I need to re-read the lessonsand then re-do some of the exercises in the current course I'm taking, Watercolor-Fast and Loose!

090523EDiM

090523EDiM
Originally uploaded by BYarborough

Lesson 3 from Watercolor Fast and Loose. I honestly didn't realize that the ref photo from the last 2 door paintings was SO similar to this lesson. I had glanced briefly through the lesson and set it aside, the image must have been in my subconscious! I have to say that I am most definitely getting faster from taking this course. Sometimes I do feel like I'm getting looser, other times I seem to want to nit and tweak here and there. This is done in my 6 x 9 Lama Li pad and I used WN paints. The techniques for this lesson were wax resist, digging in, scraping, spatter and rigger. None were new to me, but I sure don't use several on a regular basis so it was fun to apply them here.

090520EDiM

090520EDiM
Originally uploaded by BYarborough

Ever since the end of March I've been tuning in throughout the day to see the live eagle cam in Norfolk, WV -- this has just been such an awesome live video cast!! This morning, the biologists removed the female from the nest to fit her with a satellite transmitter. The public will be able to track where she goes once she leaves the nest, in about 2 weeks. It was fascinating to see how they got her out of the nest and back into it--and such CARE was taken during the whole procedure. She was so cooperative, she even fell asleep during the ordeal and they had to wake her to get her picture taken by the media. The other two eaglets were calm throughout and the mom and dad eagles circled high in the air, but didn't appear to be alarmed. The live eagle cam is here
www.wvec.com/cams/eagle.html
and the wildlife tracking site for her is here
www.wildlifetracking.org/index.shtml?tag_id=83736
Her name is Azalea and I look forward to seeing where she goes! I did this sketch QUICKLY while viewing the video and colored it in with Derwent Watersoluble Tinted Charcoal. It is in my Raffine Art Sketchbook.

090516EDiM

090516EDiM
Originally uploaded by BYarborough

Lesson 2 in Watercolor Fast and Loose -- a study of Edward Seago's work. I like this "minimalist" lesson and hope to do a few more. I used WN paints in Raffine Art Sketch book. This reminded me a bit of John Pike's work -- probably because of the palette used. Just three colors here, FrUM, Burnt Sienna, and Burnt Umber.

090510EDiM

090510EDiM
Originally uploaded by BYarborough

Well, it IS harder to do the technique from class on a composition all my own! I really like this photo of Burano, Italy, that I got from www.googlemaps.com "street view." I would like to try this one again. . . I need more blocked out white areas and I need to plan for my colors better so I can drop them in for interesting blending. This was supposed to be "Watercolor, Fast and Loose" -- is was defniitely NOT fast (I really overworked in some areas) and it's that same ol' loose that looks kindergarten! My next lesson comes tomorrow -- I hope I can get at least one more of these done today! It is in Lama Li 6 x 9 book and I used DS paints.